H.R. 1212 — Countering Online Radicalization and Terrorism Act

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Countering Online Radicalization and Terrorism Act.”

This section states the sense of Congress that the heightened terrorism threat landscape and the increasing use of foreign cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging applications by terrorist organizations pose a national security threat that is not well understood, and directs the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to take steps to recognize, assess, and address that threat to reduce risks to the people of the United States.

This section directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, to submit to the appropriate congressional committees an assessment of terrorism threats to the United States posed by terrorist organizations using foreign cloud-based mobile or desktop messaging applications not later than 180 days after enactment and annually for 5 years. The first assessment must analyze incidents in which terrorist organizations have used such applications to radicalize and recruit individuals, address how online payment features of those applications provide monetary support to terrorist organizations, and include recommendations to address the threat. The section requires each assessment to be coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the General Counsel, Privacy Office, and Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties before release outside the Department, submitted in unclassified form with a classified annex only for intelligence sources and methods, and posted publicly on a Department website in unclassified form. It also requires the Secretary to brief the appropriate congressional committees within 30 days after each submission, with other relevant federal department or agency heads joining the briefing if the committees, in consultation with the Secretary, determine that is appropriate. The section defines “appropriate congressional committees” for this requirement as the House Committee on Homeland Security and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Select Committee on Intelligence. It further requires the Secretary to review information from State and local fusion centers and the National Network of Fusion Centers on these threats and disseminate relevant information back to those entities. The section defines “foreign cloud-based mobile or desktop messaging applications” to include applications with a connection to a foreign adversary, a person owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary, or a terrorist organization, and specifically identifies applications owned or operated in whole or in part by ByteDance, Tamtam, Telegram, Vkontakte, WeChat, Weibo, RedNote, and any other application the Secretary determines appropriate.